Canal Commission

A Miami man pleaded guilty to bribing a Panama Canal Commission official who granted him favorable treatment on bids, then awarded him contracts for hardware supplies.Daniel Hitchcock, 42, faces up to two years in prison and a fine of as much as $250,000 following his conviction on a federal charge of paying an unlawful gratuity.Prosecutors said Hitchcock paid more than $14,000 in cash, luggage, airplane tickets and other items to Franklin Rouse, who oversaw bidding and awarded contracts for the canal commission.

PANAMA CITY - The Panama Canal administration Wednesday dismissed the fears of some U.S. conservatives that the Panama Canal will fall under Chinese influence when it reverts to Panama at year's end. ``Concerns about the Chinese taking control of the canal are completely unfounded and based on a misunderstanding,'' Joseph Cornelison, deputy administrator of the Panama Canal Commission, said. Cornelison's comments came in response to the delivery of a petition with 250,000 signatures to Congress on Tuesday that called on President Clinton to revoke a 1977 treaty ceding U.S. control of the Panama Canal to Panama on Dec. 31. In 1997, the Hong Kong-based shipping company Hutchison Whampoa acquired port operations at Balboa and Cristobal, on the Pacific and Atlantic approaches to the Panama Canal.

Panama, the United States and Japan are discussing proposals to rebuild the Panama Canal. The Japanese plan: To do away with the locks so that shipping can be speeded up. A spokesman for the Canal Commission, which the United States controls, said technical, legal and diplomatic recommendations are expected to come out of the meeting. Panama is to assume control of the waterway by 2000.

Like Hong Kong until last month, this American-run outpost is a place living on borrowed time. For the moment, pockets of the former Canal Zone still retain their quaint, Mayberry-in-the-tropics ambiance of Baptist churches, manicured lawns and Elks and Lions clubs.But a final, historic deadline is fast approaching: In less than 30 months, the Panama Canal will cease to be an agency of the United States government and become purely a Panamanian possession.Both sides are preparing for that signal event with a contradictory mixture of boosterism and trepidation.

Because of a reporter's misunderstanding of information from the Panama Canal Commission, a story in Monday's editions said that American residents of the Canal Zone had historically received free housing. American canal employees actually paid subsidized rent that, generally, lowered their costs significantly below comparable housing outside the zone. In 1984, in a reshuffled benefits package resulting from the Panama Canal Treaties, the commission granted American canal employees free housing.

PANAMA CITY - The Panama Canal administration Wednesday dismissed the fears of some U.S. conservatives that the Panama Canal will fall under Chinese influence when it reverts to Panama at year's end. ``Concerns about the Chinese taking control of the canal are completely unfounded and based on a misunderstanding,'' Joseph Cornelison, deputy administrator of the Panama Canal Commission, said. Cornelison's comments came in response to the delivery of a petition with 250,000 signatures to Congress on Tuesday that called on President Clinton to revoke a 1977 treaty ceding U.S. control of the Panama Canal to Panama on Dec. 31. In 1997, the Hong Kong-based shipping company Hutchison Whampoa acquired port operations at Balboa and Cristobal, on the Pacific and Atlantic approaches to the Panama Canal.

SLOW GOING. A landslide has disrupted Panama Canal traffic. Tons of rock and mud loosened by heavy rain dropped into Gaillard Cut, the waterway's narrowest part. Willy Friar, spokeswoman for the Panama Canal Commission, had no information on how long it would take to clear the blockage. He said two ships have been unable to proceed because their drafts exceed an emergency limit. Other vessels are going through one at a time, and there is no backlog because traffic is not heavy this time of year, Friar said.

The Panama Canal turned 80 Monday, faced with bright short-term prospects but a more uncertain overall future, a high-ranking canal official said. ''The canal did a great business this year, and next year should be no different,'' Richard Wainio, executive planning director for the Panama Canal Commission, said. ''But over the longer term, I don't see the canal trade growing much at all in the aggregate. At worst it could decrease,'' he said. Most of the canal's business comes from already mature U.S.-Asian trade.

Like Hong Kong until last month, this American-run outpost is a place living on borrowed time. For the moment, pockets of the former Canal Zone still retain their quaint, Mayberry-in-the-tropics ambiance of Baptist churches, manicured lawns and Elks and Lions clubs.But a final, historic deadline is fast approaching: In less than 30 months, the Panama Canal will cease to be an agency of the United States government and become purely a Panamanian possession.Both sides are preparing for that signal event with a contradictory mixture of boosterism and trepidation.

Votes of area members of Congress on key issues last week.SenateSenate issues warning to Panama. The Senate Thursday told Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega that it might be willing to slow the process for transfer of the Panama Canal to Panama should he remain in power. The vehicle for the message was a non-binding amendment to the 1989 supplemental appropriations bill. The Senate refused to kill the amendment by a 31 to 63 vote.The amendment expressed the sense of the Senate that a democratically elected government be in place in Panama before the Senate confirms the 1990 appointment of a Panamanian national to head the Panama Canal Commission - one of the steps needed for the transfer of the canal in 1999.

The Panama Canal turned 80 Monday, faced with bright short-term prospects but a more uncertain overall future, a high-ranking canal official said. ''The canal did a great business this year, and next year should be no different,'' Richard Wainio, executive planning director for the Panama Canal Commission, said. ''But over the longer term, I don't see the canal trade growing much at all in the aggregate. At worst it could decrease,'' he said. Most of the canal's business comes from already mature U.S.-Asian trade.

A Miami man pleaded guilty to bribing a Panama Canal Commission official who granted him favorable treatment on bids, then awarded him contracts for hardware supplies.Daniel Hitchcock, 42, faces up to two years in prison and a fine of as much as $250,000 following his conviction on a federal charge of paying an unlawful gratuity.Prosecutors said Hitchcock paid more than $14,000 in cash, luggage, airplane tickets and other items to Franklin Rouse, who oversaw bidding and awarded contracts for the canal commission.

Votes of area members of Congress on key issues last week.SenateSenate issues warning to Panama. The Senate Thursday told Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega that it might be willing to slow the process for transfer of the Panama Canal to Panama should he remain in power. The vehicle for the message was a non-binding amendment to the 1989 supplemental appropriations bill. The Senate refused to kill the amendment by a 31 to 63 vote.The amendment expressed the sense of the Senate that a democratically elected government be in place in Panama before the Senate confirms the 1990 appointment of a Panamanian national to head the Panama Canal Commission - one of the steps needed for the transfer of the canal in 1999.

Let's take time out to recall a chapter in U.S. history we could live to regret. I'm talking about President Jimmy Carter's giveaway of the Panama Canal in 1977.Whatever were Carter's good intentions when he entered into these treaties, which some called a swindle, with Panama's late President Omar Torrijos, the deal holds nothing but potential grief for the United States. Congress must move to abrogate the treaties, which today some consider illegal and unconstitutional.Critics say the treaties can be legally terminated under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties because ''circumstances have changed since the pact was written.

The Panamanian government has been mismanaging sections of the former Panama Canal Zone and installations important to the canal that have already been handed over by the United States, say Panamanian employees of the canal and shipping industry experts.They say the government's performance raises doubts about its ability and willingness to run the waterway impartially and to abide by the terms of the Panama Canal Treaties.More than a dozen Panamanian technical and managerial staff members of the Panama Canal Commission were interviewed over the last week, as well as some American officials and independent economic and shipping experts employed by private businesses.

Because of a reporter's misunderstanding of information from the Panama Canal Commission, a story in Monday's editions said that American residents of the Canal Zone had historically received free housing. American canal employees actually paid subsidized rent that, generally, lowered their costs significantly below comparable housing outside the zone. In 1984, in a reshuffled benefits package resulting from the Panama Canal Treaties, the commission granted American canal employees free housing.

The Panamanian government has been mismanaging sections of the former Panama Canal Zone and installations important to the canal that have already been handed over by the United States, say Panamanian employees of the canal and shipping industry experts.They say the government's performance raises doubts about its ability and willingness to run the waterway impartially and to abide by the terms of the Panama Canal Treaties.More than a dozen Panamanian technical and managerial staff members of the Panama Canal Commission were interviewed over the last week, as well as some American officials and independent economic and shipping experts employed by private businesses.

Let's take time out to recall a chapter in U.S. history we could live to regret. I'm talking about President Jimmy Carter's giveaway of the Panama Canal in 1977.Whatever were Carter's good intentions when he entered into these treaties, which some called a swindle, with Panama's late President Omar Torrijos, the deal holds nothing but potential grief for the United States. Congress must move to abrogate the treaties, which today some consider illegal and unconstitutional.Critics say the treaties can be legally terminated under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties because ''circumstances have changed since the pact was written.

The giant Japanese freighter eases into the first lock as Panamanian pilots climb aboard to guide it across the ribbon-thin canal that slices from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.An explosion of noise echoes through an underground tunnel as two huge wheels close the 700-foot-high gates behind the ship. Another explosion of noise signals the opening of two valves that allow millions of gallons of water to rush into the half-empty chamber.Like a whale trapped in a swimming pool, the ship slowly rises, tilting and rolling ever so slightly.

SLOW GOING. A landslide has disrupted Panama Canal traffic. Tons of rock and mud loosened by heavy rain dropped into Gaillard Cut, the waterway's narrowest part. Willy Friar, spokeswoman for the Panama Canal Commission, had no information on how long it would take to clear the blockage. He said two ships have been unable to proceed because their drafts exceed an emergency limit. Other vessels are going through one at a time, and there is no backlog because traffic is not heavy this time of year, Friar said.